"Nothing is certain—that is the first lesson."

Paolo Bacigalupi Literature See all quotes by Paolo Bacigalupi →

quotekg

React to this quote

More by Paolo Bacigalupi

“She does not know how little anyone cares to separate wheat from chaff, when all anyone wants to do is burn a field.”

“You're saying that you yoked the world to your patented grains and seeds, happily enslaved us all—and now you finally realize that you are dragging us all to hell.”

“Politics is ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power.”

“No one had ever come for him... not his mom, not his dad, not his brother, not a dozen people who he'd called his friends back in his town on the coast, not a one of them had ever come looking for him, trying to get him back. They'd just let him go. That was the difference. But this castoff cripple-hand civvy girl had come all the way in. Ocho scowled down at her limp body. See what loyalty gets you? See?”

“An untrampled scorpion troubles no one.”

“If you bargain when they squeeze your balls, they will only squeeze again.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. And Mrs. Daneeka: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action."

— Joseph Heller

Literature1923–1999

#family

"All societies that have survived have survived based on their ability to prepare their sons to be disposable, in war and at work--and therefore as dads."

— Warren Farrell

Science1943

#family

"You see what I felt they should have done for our first public works project is build a giant wall across the entire border of Canada...because THAT'S where the cold air comes from!"

— Lewis Black

Entertainment1948

#work

"The great and inspiring aims of the Revolution became so clouded with and obscured by the methods used by the ruling political power that it was hard to distinguish what was temporary means and what f…"

— Emma Goldman

Social Activism1869–1940

#philosophy